Lost in Translation : 14th Asian Bridal Summit / Asian Wedding Cultural Festival in Haiyang, Qingdao, China (Part 2)

Handing over of flag from Japan to Myanmar

Day 4 : 28th August 2011 | Haiyang City Promotion & Closing Ceremony

I was actually expecting a Chinese friend of mine the previous night. He got in late to Haiyang and unfortunately for me, my splitting migraine had me crashing out for the night earlier so I didn't wait up for Heawin.

Heawin hails from Guangzhou and our friendship goes back 8 years. We first met when we worked on the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in Sabah. Seeing that I missed him the night before, I made plans to meet him for breakfast before keeping to the day's summit schedules. Unfortunately, the timing didn't go as planned either. Being the last day of the summit and all, our mounting frustration with our translator was about to peak. None of the schedules for the day was kept to and nobody, literally nobody knew what was going on. And then there seemed to have surprise meetings which are compulsory for us to attend without prior information. Basically, it was one entire pot of mass confusion. Between my anticipation of meeting with Heawin, the screwed up itinerary and making sure we didn't embarass Malaysia further by missing out important activities or being seen as "not giving face" to Chinese government, my migraine creeped back. Aaargh.

I haven't met Heawin in the last 8 years and we had lots of catching up to do. Just as fate would have it, I bumped into him at the lift - he was coming down and I was going up! What were the odds of that really, given that the hotel was fully booked??! A quick hello indeed and I had to rush into the lift. Hmmm... really not how I would've expected to greet an old friend. No hugs. Haha. I wasn't sure if I should be mindful of "cultural differences" here or do I do my usual "banana-world" Western-style hugs when I see an old friend *smile* Anyway.... I had more things to worry about like "fishes" who couldn't get a proper time schedule for us.

The first activity for the day was our travels up to Zhaohu Mountain Park. The weather wasn't really on our side. Over-cast, drizzling... but nevertheless, we went on the bus and it was a police-convoy all the way, even with police stopping traffic. Ok, how grand is that? :) The Zhaohu Mountain lies 549.7m above sea levels and on there is a Buddhist temple is situated at one of the hills. The temple is also a deep meditation institution. The day being cloudy and over-casted actually created a very surreal and peaceful atmosphere. I had felt a moment of deep peace, in both my mind and my heart when I was at the temple and I prayed. Hmmm... again, it was one of those "strange but good" things that I experienced in my China trip.

After the trip to the mountains, we were ushered back to lunch. Instead of lunch at the hotel, we met up with Heawin who took us to Jade Palace Restaurant at the Sand Sculpture Park for lunch. It was good, doing a quick catch-up with him.
The afternoon, was a compulsory meeting at the Shineland Yacht Club so after lunch, Heawin dropped us off. Now, nobody told us it was a media event and guess what these two silly Malaysians were dressed in? Travel gear since we just only came back from the mountains :P OMG indeed when we walked into the room. Ms. President was obviously fuming. I was luckier. I didn't have to sit at the head table. She did. Hahaha! But still, I took out my sweater to cover up my "touristy" T-shirt and tried to keep a low-profile. But when our translator showed up, he was well-dressed in formal attire and I asked him - why weren't we informed that it was a formal meeting? Because earlier on, they only said it was an informal tourism presentation. OMG. OMG. OMG. Even in her speech, the Mayor said "I'm sorry for over-dressing, but it is only because I have another important meeting to attend." Either she caught sight of Leticia's dressing and tried to let us down easy or she was being honest. We will never know. But we survived. In fact, people wanted our autographs too. Again, strange and bizzare. Autograph? Oh, because our faces were in the Official Book for the 14th Asian Bridal Summit.

After the media presentation, we went back to the hotel and met up with Heawin again. I felt bad because he traveled all the way and I didn't have a correct schedule to keep to. Anyway, we went to the beach for ice cream and chatted about events and weddings in our respective countries before we had to go back to get dressed for the Closing Ceremony. This time, Leticia and I were gonna make sure we looked the best for Malaysia. Haha.

Due to inclement weather, the closing ceremony was held indoors although a set was set-up for outdoors. At the Gold Coast Hotel again, when we arrived, nobody seemed to know what was going on and what to do with us. We spoke to fishes who insisted on speaking to us in Japanese and we were just plain frustrated. Finally, they told us that the President had to sit at the Judging Table. Funny, funny... there was a Top Model Contest taking place during the Closing Ceremony and they were to be judged. The judging form was in Chinese. My President couldn't read a single word. I was happy to be at my delegation seat. *laughs*. And last-minute like, I was told she had to present prizes to the winners of the contest. So I related the information to her and told her I would signal her when she needs to go on stage since she couldn't understand Chinese and nobody did any translation of any sort! OMG..... ! Another lost in translation moment happened when a simple question of "what time does it all end?" was misintepreted as "we want to leave now!". When the translator went to inform my President that she can now leave, OMG, was she fuming mad. I mean, how the hell do you expect her, sandwiched in between all the Chinese government officials to first of all walk out of there? And second of all, how bad would it look for Malaysia? Whether we liked it or not, we represented the country and we didn't want to be known as the delegation who misbehaved! I decided to look up the organizers right there and then and explained the entire situation to them. The last thing we wanted was to let the Chinese team think that we were being so bloody difficult. We weren't! OMG indeed. Luckily, they understand. They also understood that our assigned delegation's person-in-charge was more interested in drooling over swimsuits than to ensure that we were well looked after.

I certainly wish them all the best in organizing the Asian Beach Games next year. But I'm pretty sure China will prevail in organizing a world-class event.

After the whole thing ended, we met up with Heawin for supper. The only thing available in Haiyang at that time was their local BBQ shops. Cool. Heawin is in the event business as well and when we complained to him all about the mass confusion that happened everyday, he was shaking his head in disbelief.

Yet another long day and finally, the summit has come to an end. It was a good learning experience for us and of course a great networking event as well, expanding our horizons and wings into China, Korea, Japan, Myanmar. Not to mention, making new friends as well. Sometimes, we never know when these contacts would come in handy anyway. Agree?
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Day 5 : 29th August 2011 | My Short Travels
So, today, was goodbyes. Even though we arranged for transportation for Leticia the day before, they still managed to screw-up the plan. The bus to airport came late. Anyway, after checking and making sure that they are getting it right and she was going to be at the airport on time, I ditched her :) Heawin, my tour guide for the day was going to take me to Qingdao! 

The 2-hour ride from Haiyang to Qingdao gave Heawin and I an opportunity to catch up and pick-up from where we left off. This is what great friendships are all about. The gaps in between does not make a difference actually. Before you know it, we were catching up and joking and laughing - me in my broken Chinese and him in his broken English.

First on the itinerary was for me to see the World's Longest Bridge - the Jiazhou Bridge which spans a distance of 42km and links Qingdao to an offshore island called Huangdao. The only thing I could think about was the fact that we could do a full marathon from end-to-end on the bridge. That would be super. I told Heawin to plan the race. *laugh* Ok, honestly, I was impressed by the bridge. 4-lanes on both sides. And with the mist and over-casted skies, it looked like a highway to heaven. Once again, China Boleh, huh? When we exited at Huangdao, my brilliant tour guide got lost for awhile before we found our way to the ferry terminal to take the ferry back to Qingdao. And my tour guide also proved to me why Haiyang cannot be the largest city in China. *laughs* I learnt that one should not argue with a local :P
He put me up at this boutique hotel called The Castle. I can tell, this hotel was specifically made for weddings when the description said "The Green Castle and Red Castle are linked together like a couple standing hand-in-hand". It was a really cutesy, art-decor hotel and definitely looks like a place for a lot of the Chinese to do their pre-wedding shoot. They also have a wedding field for garden ceremonies. At the conference, I learnt that the Chinese people are also westernizing their wedding customs.

Anyway, the scenery from the hotel was beautiful. It was atop a small hill and overlooks most of Qingdao's skylines. Qingdao was an ex-German base in 1899 when the Imperial German Concession was signed. Now, the colonial architecture of the town is what is left of this part of history in Qingdao. But Qingdao was full of people. Tourists, both from abroad and locally. But to my surprise, I only saw 3 gwai los for the 2 days that I was in Qingdao. I had expected this beach side resort to have more. But then again, the International Beer Festival just ended and perhaps, they had all left in their drunken stupor. Too bad, I missed that too. It would've been great to see it.

After checking-in, we went for lunch. Knowing my tastebud for spicy food, he took me for home-cooked Sichuan food. Ok, the setback about doing a documentation of my China travels is that - I am unable to put down the names of the shops I've eaten at. Why? Because me no read Chinese! But this place, was really good food. It was home-cooked style and we had a Chicken, Lamb, Soup and Cabbage dish - all SPICY :) The lamb was apparently the signature dish and has been showcased in the media too. So, good find, Heawin! This was arguably the best full meal that I had since arriving in China :)

Heawin and I at lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall shop :)

We spent most of the afternoon chatting away and before you know it, it was time for our goodbyes too. Again, we said bye-bye in the form of a formal handshake. What?? No goodbye hugs? *laughs*. The handshake seems a bit strange to me. *grin*. Anyway, thanks for your hospitality, Heawin :)

Heawin dropped me off at the hotel and thus began my solo adventure in Qingdao. For the first time in a long time, I was traveling alone. I had actually missed this - traveling solo.
Because I didn't have much time, I decided to only look in at a few places and therefore, I took a walk out to get to Zhanqiao Bridge - the iconic symbol of Qingdao. This was near to the hotel, but me being terrible with maps, I got lost for a good one hour! I ended up asking strangers on the streets for directions. Again, call me lucky, but nice people directed me. One of them, when he found out I wasn't local, he said "Welcome to China." And so, in a country supposedly full of obnoxious and selfish Chinese, again, I was blessed with meeting only the nicer ones :)

I finally made it to Zhanqiao and it was so crowded! I like Chinese architecture, which was the building that was at the end of the bridge. More so than the colonial ones. It's quite funny because despite my very westernized ways, I do like a lot of things Chinese. Anyhoo.. from Zhanqiao, I made my way to the Taidong Bu Xing Jie - the "world famous pedestrian walkway" where supposedly, is a great place for night market shopping and also to see the wall mural paintings. OMG, when I arrived - it was "people mountain, people sea" but because the place was so crazy big and spacious, you don't get that claustrophobic feeling. I was actually in awe of the wall murals. They were really good and I was wondering how did they get it done and how long it must've taken them to do it.

The night market, though was only 3 lanes and the rest were all branded fashion and upscale shops. The night market was rather uninspiring. I was looking for a bag and a magnet for my Mom and found none. What? No souvenir magnets?? Oh no. I spent 2 hours here at Taidong and didn't manage to walk the whole place. It was too overwhelmingly large for me. I ended up having a look inside Walmart. Hey, after all, I'm in civilization as compared to PP, so why not, right? Oh... I also managed to sample some "Smelly Tofu". Hahaha. I smelt those delicious snacks from miles away and had to get them. But it was again, strange. They serve it in a type of broth here. Still tasted good anyway :)

The impressive wall murals at Taidong Buxingjie that I'm in awe of

After the walk and all, I wanted to go look for dumplings to eat. Wow, Qingdao was so huge in itself and not everywhere was within walking distances. But - the taxi drivers were nice. Except, one of them scolded me for not being able to read Chinese. He, was apparently too old to see the signboards clearly. So, I said even if he scolded me, I still cannot read. So how? He laughed at me after that! *slaps forehead*. Anyway, I finally found one local looking shop and had my Jiaozhi before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.
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Day 6 : 30th August 2011 | Last Day in China

I woke up bright and early and went out for a walk around the hotel before having my breakfast. Now, breakfast was rich indeed as compared to breakfast for the last few days. I decided to skip the Western breakfast and had Jiaozhi (again!), porridge and Siew Loong Bao for breakfast.

Then, I made my way to the Qingdao Beer Musuem. If not because MOH wanted a Tsingtao Beer T-shirt and I couldn't find any at the night market last night, I wouldn't have gone. I thought I'd make it quick and just give it a short look around. My main objective was really to get the souvenir! Hopefully, a magnet for my Mom too. I ended up touring the place for an hour plus. Yes, I did. It was interesting. Plus, they gave visitors free beer. So, 9am in the morning, I had a small cup of beer. And I don't even drink beer!! Finally, I found the T-shirts and bless me, I found magnets too. Woohoooo!!!

Next, I went to the Badaguan Scenic Area and last day for me to take in the sea breeze and ocean. Badaguan Scenic area houses a lot of the colonial buildings and also upscale resorts. Qingdao is not flat and it's a lot of uphill, downhill - so perfect for running :) They should do an international triathlon here!

After enjoying my ice cream by the beach, I headed back to the hotel. It was time to leave and time to say goodbye to Qingdao China. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the 8-hour traveling back to PP from Qingdao. If only the Harry Potter portkey was real. I'd zapped myself back. We'd all save a lot of time too.

So, my trip to my Mother Land has come to a great end. For some reason, I am missing China already. That is strange. I didn't expect to miss China !! Hah, too many "strange but nice" things that I experienced this trip. The trip was definitely made nicer because I met nice Chinese people. I suppose, maybe people's perception about China's Chinese need to change? Or I'm being too idealistic? Yes, they are still loud and oblivious to the world, but so far, I only had the pleasure of meeting the nice ones. As I mentioned, in a country, supposedly full of cunning, obnoxious folks, I met only the nice honest ones. I'm either very lucky or I'm starting to build an affinity with my Mother Land. But then again, I also prefer to see the good in people first. This might one day be my downfall but.... oh well.....

I was also a bit strange for me because they all seem to find me strange. "How come you speak Chinese? | How come you speak but you cannot read? | How come you look so dark? So you speak Chinese in Malaysia?? | etc... etc...."

So am I actually Chinese? Of course I am Chinese!! I just don't come from China!

I'm also happy to have the chance to catch up with my friend too. Now, I can say I have been on the longest bridge in the world. One day, I shall run the marathon on it :) So all in all, the trip was really great.
Now, perhaps, is time for me to brush up my Chinese and not let it rot since I seem to have gotten a hang of it in my last few days in China *laugh*

Lost in Translation : 14th Asian Bridal Summit / Asian Wedding Cultural Festival in Haiyang, Qingdao, China (Part 1)

President & Vice President AWP Malaysia at the 14th
Asian Bridal Summit 2011

So, I was traveling back to China, my Mother Land for the second time in my life. I just realized that both times were for work. First time being the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in Lijiang, Kunming and now for the 14th Asian Bridal Summit in Haiyang, Qingdao.

I was both excited and apprehensive at the same time. First of all, my mother tongue isn't really my mother tongue. I don't speak much of it back home and definitely no reason to speak it in Cambodia therefore, I think it is a bit rusty. Second of all, I was wary of people warning me to be careful of the Chinese people and people telling me "welcome to the country of loud-ness"...  of how obnoxious and rude the Chinese people are, etc, etc. Following the Laws of Attraction, I thought that it might be better if I went with an open-mind. So I did.

Day 1 : 25th August 2011 | Arrival

The traveling was, OMG long and tiring - 11 hours in total!! From PP to Guangzhou was a 3 hour flight and then I had to transit in Guangzhou for 3 hours, waiting for my President to show up. She was late and I thought she had decided to ditch me at the last minute (apparently, she was stopped at the Baiyun airport security check for carrying a bomb in her bag!! This was hilarious when she explained it to me). And then the flight from Guangzhou to Qingdao was another 3 hours. From Qingdao to Haiyang was a 2 hour journey by car. So, just imagine that.

Guangzhou Baiyun airport was huge. Totally huge. Took me 2 hours to navigate myself to the right counters and all. Ok, granted, my sense of direction isn't my strong point. But when I asked for directions, the airport staff were friendly and guided me to where I needed to go. Most couldn't speak English, and I thought it being Guangzhou, Cantonese would've been fine. Great misconception. Mandarin it was, all the way. But still, yes, they stare at me strangely as I tried to speak in my broken Mandarin and I strained my ears to catch what they are saying in their heavily accented Mandarin. This is my mother tongue? Oh God. Sounds foreign to me.

At the Qingdao airport, upon our arrival, we were given a rather pompous greeting. We had about 15 crew members and the chief of Malaysian delegation welcome us with flowers and fanfare and media too! My only thought was "OMG. After 11 hours, I look like shit and they wanna take photos??!" My President was even better. She thought that it was embarassing that the Malaysian delegation only showed up with 2 people and yet, the welcome committee was large. Nevertheless, we took photos and we were promptly escorted to our car and driven to Enjoy Sea Hotel in Haiyang. Yes, that's the name of the hotel (and there was internet, just not WiFi!) Our delegation's person-in-charge cum translator was even funnier. He spoke to us in Japanese and speaks very little English. Shaking my head, I thought, ok, this was going to be really fun.

Because it was such a late arrival for us, the hotel prepared dinner separately for us. Too tired for anything else after dinner, we called it a night.
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Day 2 : 26th August 2011 | Opening Ceremony & Rehearsals

Now, you see, during the planning process of the summit, we were communicating with Japan and again, it was a lot of chicken & duck talk too. We had about 5 different versions of the schedule and itinerary, none of which were in English. One of them was even in half-Chinese and half-Japanese! Bizzare. The best part was, the itinerary was somewhat different from what was printed in our programme booklet. My President shook her head in dismay. And surprise, surprise - on the programme booklet, there was a "Malaysian Delegation Fashion Show" printed. This was all too funny. It was like a mass chicken, duck and fish talk, between China & Japan and the other delegations. Besides China & Japan, the other delegations were Korea, Myanmar, Malaysia, China Taiwan and China HK. We realized very early on that Japanese seemed to be the "main communication language" for the Bridal Summit which was truly strange. FYI - even the Myanmar team leader spoke Japanese fluently. *slaps forehead*

The day started early with a 7am wake-up call and an 8am departure from the lobby for the Opening Ceremony at the Sand Sculpture Park. At the lobby, we realized that the smallest delegation was Malaysia with only 2 representatives. Even Myanmar, a supposedly "poorer" nation than us came in a 26-strong delegation. They were subsidized by their own tourism ministry and eventually, we found out most of the delegations were also subsidized by their own respective tourism ministries and wedding association (Japan came with 75 pax!) because it was a cultural event showcasing their country's culture and tradition. For the first time in my life, at an international conference, I was DEEPLY EMBARRASSED to be a Malaysian. I wanted to switch teams. Was wondering if the Chinese delegation would accept me :P Some of the delegations brought their own media and also every delegation had a tourism rep from a travel agency - obviously to promote their country. Honestly, I didn't know where I wanted to hide my face when asked "How come Malaysia only 2 people?" Shall I be honest and say our Tourism Ministry does not support us? And also that AWP was very poor? Between Leticia and myself, we decided that since we represent the country, we better bite the bullet and wing it.

The Opening Ceremony was quite grand and was hosted by China. Unfortunately, I felt that the event organizers could've done better because all the delegations were confused as to where we were supposed to sit and what we were supposed to do. Our delegation's person-in-charge was not much of a help (our nickname for him was "Fish") and in fact, none of these "fishes" seem to know what was going on either. We were pretty much left to our own devices. In the middle of Haiyang Mayor's speech, my President was quickly ushered and pushed to sit at the head table. Best part - her name was even labeled wrongly on the table and media was all over the place. Same goes for the Myanmar's team leader too. Anyhow, the show went on despite all these chaos going on. I was surprised. I had fully expected that a China-organized event would go on without a hitch, granted that my experience and what I heard about events in China were that they had always been spot-on.

The Opening Ceremony was held on the beach under the bright hot sun. I was melting under the sun and promptly got a burn. After the opening ceremony, we were shown around the Sand Sculpture Park before being ushered back to the hotel for lunch. And oh, as if I needed that, my one and only pair of "nice shoes" BROKE. Like, un-fixable broke. Haiyang, whilst going to be hosting the Asian Beach Games in 2012, is like rather empty. We were not staying anywhere near town either so no shops nearby. So, oh-dear-factor indeed. (I also found out later that we were hoodwinked into thinking that Haiyang was gearing to be the "largest city in China". Either that or there was a problem with the translation!!")

For lunch, we were hosted to a VIP lunch by Yumi Katsura, the President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Bridal Association and Chen Fumi, Chief of Wedding Service Industries China Association of Social Workers. It seemed that banquet meals in China never stops at 10-courses. We had 20 dishes. Every delegation, only the President / Team Leaders and VPs were invited to lunch. Since Malaysia was only the two of us, it was fine. Thinking about it - in a way, had more of our AWP members come, this might be a sore bitching point. Anyway, that's what I think. I mean, how unfair is it that only two people get to go for a VIP lunch? Would you think, honestly, that this would sit well with others? Anyway, after lunch, there was a short meeting with Yumi Katsura and the Organizing Committee of the AP Bridal Summit. This was definitely not good for my migraine. Between the Chinese - Japanese - to English translation, I felt my head splitting into two. By the time anything got translated three times over, everything was lost in translation. OMG. Why can't they have made English the official language??

After lunch, we were ushered to the Gold Coast Hotel where the Live Performances (and the mysterious Fashion Show which nobody told us about) were going to be held. Today was all about rehearsals for each delegation of their performances. The Malaysian delegation brought a DVD to showcase our cultural weddings instead of a live performance. Once again, Tourism didn't give us the required support and no members were going to fork out their own pocket money to get their asses over to China. So, a DVD will have to do. Wait till you hear how we "winged" this and won the people's heart (read about Day 4 *smile*)

After rehearsals, it was actually free time so we took that opportunity to go downtown. I was in dire need of a pair of presentable shoes for the activities for Day 3! We asked our translator to write down "shoe shop" in Chinese which we could just show people or taxi drivers. Leticia got a business card of the hotel and we were off on our adventures in downtown Haiyang. When we arrived at the Jin Hai Luo Shopping Complex, I was excited to see that there was a night market happening. I love night markets and glad I didn't miss this one. Anyway, shoe shopping first - and without a translator around, I had to force myself to do the speaking of the language. Ahhh,..... suddenly, my mother tongue was all coming back to me. Woohoooo! Ok, now, I wasn't one for shopping especially when I am forced to shop without inspiration! I don't do shoe shopping for leisure nor clothes shopping. So, Leticia accompanied me to about 10 shoe shops to look for that "desirable" pair of shoe before she wanted to slap me and I settled for the first pair I saw. Then, mission accomplished, we walked around, taking in the sights and snacks at the local street market. We even went to check out a local grocery shop which was interesting. You know what they say about China-made goods, yes? Anyway... after that, we settled for dinner at a noodle shop. Interestingly, they were selling what looked like "Pan Mee" and Oh My God... these were the best noodles I had in a long, long time. Super good texture and taste! I'm a fan of noodles. One day, I would like to take the China tour - touring the entire China, eating all their different types of noodles.

And also, I was surprised. Three times in the day, I over-paid for something I purchased. And all three times, the Chinese vendor called me back to give me my change. What are the odds, really, in a country where I was told to beware of conniving Chinese people, out of billions of them, I meet 3 honest ones? So there you go. Perhaps, our perception of people should change.

Satisifed with my dinner, we made our way back to the hotel. Before we started work for the night, we took a walk along the beach. The weather in Haiyang was great. Not too hot and it gets cold at night. Then, it was back to the Secretariat at the hotel to do some work. We had to prepare our conference presentation and these were required by the official interpretor of the summit as it was all going to be like a "UN Meeting" the next day with headphones for immediate translations. And then, we still had to figure out how to wing our DVD presentation and the "Malaysian Delegation Fashion Show". Even though Tourism Malaysia ditched us, I was hell-bent NOT to let that take us all down embarassingly. We were the under-dogs, surely, but we were going to put on a great show. The other delegations even had hair & make-up artist, special cheorographers, musicians and they flew in their equipments and props as well. Errr... all Malaysia had was a DVD, Leticia and myself. And oh - our traditional costumes. And mine wasn't even traditional-traditional to begin with. BUT, we were going to wing it, I swear.

After finishing our work, it was time for us to say good night. Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day.
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Day 4 : 27th August 2011 | Actual Summit Day

Wake-up call was at 6.30am today and by 7am, we were madly rushed to Aloft Hotel, a Starwood property for the Conference. I say a "mad rush" because it all seemed so disorganized. Again, our translator had no clue what was happening and his only objective was to get us on the bus at 7am sharp. We got into the bus only to realize, we still had to wait another 20 minutes for the Korean delegation. Alamak! As all these were taking place, we had been making notes ourselves. When Malaysia hosts the summit, hopefully in 2013, there won't be these things taking place. And why aren't we hosting this in 2012? Because Myanmar had already received the green light from the Federation. They came as observors only, still they brought a 26-pax strong team. Myanmar is preparing for bigger things in the international arena. Malaysia is continuing its downward spiral. How sad.

The summit's conference was on the main topic of "How do you preserve culture and tradition in today's modernized world?" So my 'thesis paper' :P of "Preserving Wedding Culture and Tradition In Today's Modernized Malaysia" was spot-on. (Here, I would like to say Thank You to Joanna & Suan Bee for your pointers!! Xie Xie!). Myanmar had it even worse. They had to wing the whole presentation overnight because they were not informed prior of this. Thomas, the delegation leader was not a happy camper, I tell you. But despite, they put up a good presentation too about Myanmar and its culture and traditions. About 200 pax from the wedding industry in China and media attended the conference. When the floor was opened for questions, everyone was looking at Malaysia since we presented the most comprehensive presentation. I was literally sweating in my arse answering their questions. At the same time, I hoped the interpretor had it translated correctly. Otherwise, it is all another lost in translation communication. All the members of the delegation had our own discussion and questions as well. We were just a little disappointed because as mentioned, Japanese was like the "official language" of the Summit and we understood ZERO. And there was no interpretor for Japanese to English despite all the very canggih UN-looking headphones for immediate translations! So whenever something was spoken in Japanese, we were left to pretend to look interested. Our translator? Forget it. We found out that even his Japanese was half-past six! Thomas from Myanmar actually did the translation for us. Thank God.

After the Conference ended, we were taken back to Enjoy Sea Hotel for our lunch. We only had a half-hour time frame for our lunch before rushing off to Gold Coast Hotel for the afternoon session of the Summit. It was all so rush-rush, I almost choked on my brocolli!!

Now, our afternoon session was Da Bomb, I tell you. We were second to do our presentation. The thing with Leticia and myself is that we were not hung-up about being in the limelight. For me, it was absolutely perfect that she being the President had to always be the one sitting at the head table or being on stage, etc.. etc... but for our presentation, we thought it was better that we showed how "big" our delegation was (LMAO) by having both of us on stage. Furthermore, we needed to wing the fashion show too! (LMFAO).

I was shaking from neck down. I hate public-speaking. And now, it includes sashaying down the bloody catwalk too. I was going to try to block-out the 600-pax crowd attending the presentation!!!

Do you want to know how we turned the whole thing around for ourselves? From being ditched by Tourism Malaysia and looking like a cheapskate country presenting only a DVD to a Malaysia Boleh pride? Here's our introduction speech :

Lucky thing the skirt was long and covered
the obvious shaking in our legs... !

(E) : Zhun Jing De Xian Seng Men, Nu Shi Men, Xia Wu Hao. Wo shi Lu Jia Li
(L) : Salam Sejahtera. Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen, I am Leticia Hsu

(L) : We are the Association of Wedding Professionals Malaysia and today, we would like to showcase Malaysia's unique blend of culture. In Malaysia, we are blessed with many different types of culture and religion. The main ones being Malay, Chinese and Indians.

(E) : We had been asked to showcase one culture from Malaysia. But this is an impossible task because Malaysia will not be Malaysia without the melting pot of different cultures. Our respect and tolerance for each other's culture and traditions in our country is what makes us Malaysians and what makes us truly unique.

(L) : Like today, I am wearing a "Baju Kebaya" which is a Malay traditional costume which is made of Batik material - one of Malaysia's pride in terms of traditional fabric.

(E) : And I am wearing a Chinese traditional costume - a modernized version - which is also where Malaysia is heading in terms of the wedding trends. We are a nation looking to
move forward in our trends and styles, but we are at the same time proud of our heritage, culture and traditions and we would like to preserve this.

So, right now, sit back and enjoy the unique multi-cultural weddings brought to you all the way from Malaysia, Truly Asia

(Catwalk down the runway....)
Now, that was something, huh? Nevermind that both of us up there on stage were literally shaking (you could see the paper we were holding shaking!!), but when I spoke in Mandarin to introduce myself, my God, did the crowd cheer! Ok, I got the order wrong. Should be ladies first then gentlemen. Who cares? And when our DVD was presented,.... we could see, literally see everyone of the 600-strong crowd sitting at the edge of their seats! When the Chinese weddings came on, there were both excitement and surprise. People were looking at us and smiling and giving us the thumbs-up sign. I said a prayer of Thanks. Even though my country let me down, I didn't let my country down. We did it. We winged it.

The MC for the ceremony spoke a little Cantonese. So when asked where were the rest of our delegation, we told him there was only 2 of us from Malaysia. Please support us. We said it jokingly, but he went out to announce this point after our presentation!! OMG. Asking the 600-pax crowd to give us their support - to give "the two ladies, despite being a small delegation, put up a strong show" a huge round of applause for our presentation. The MC's introduction broke the ice for the crowd to come up to us to speak to us, to take photos and for a moment, it felt strange and bizzare. They even complimented us on or traditional attire saying that these were their favourites as it looked "simple and clean". Media interviews and photo ops flurried over us. It was dizzying actually. My migraine wasn't helping at all. In fact, the Mayor came up to us to say "You two ladies were very courageous!" Huh?? OMG. We must've looked so silly going down the catwalk with just the two of us! By the way, the Mayor spoke fluent English. The only other person we knew who spoke good English, besides the official summit translator.

Obviously, we were strange to the Chinese folks. Perhaps, like an alien specimen. I guess, some people, judging from their questions were not aware that there was a very big Chinese community in Malaysia who practised Chinese culture, customs and traditions in their weddings. Stranger still was me, who looked tanned, wore a Chinese costume and spoke some Chinese whereas Leticia, who looked more Chinese than I was, spoke zero Chinese and wore a Malay costume. So they were all excited too when they found out I could speak and understand Mandarin. At the end of the day, I take it that we were just strange to them.

The presentation finished around dinner time and once again, while the rest of the delegations were ushered back to hotel for dinner, 2 reps from each country were hosted to dinner with the Mayor and the Haiyang Tourism Director. Tonight's dinner was a 25-course meal dinner. So, a friend of mine told me that actually, in this part of China, the culture was more about making sure there are leftover food when hosting guests rather than just having enough to eat. Interesting.

After dinner, we attended the Yumi Katsura Fashion Show. She was really good with her Kimono designs.

So, after ending the day's Summit on a high, I have to say, "Phew!"
At the end of the day, I can't say "Malaysia Boleh". I mean, this is an event to promote each country's culture and tradition. What if we went there promoting "gothic-themed" weddings as Malaysia's new culture trend? Right? Point made.

I can't even say "AWP Boleh." Because even our DVD was done by a non-member, despite the fact that we have photographer and videographers on our membership list. Guess showing off their logos in an international arena isn't quite worth the effort. By the way, all media were given a copy of our DVD. They loved it, they asked for it. And I caught a glimpse of it on China TV too.

But I guess, I can say Leticia & Eileen BOLEH indeed.

And again - thank you to Joanna, Suan Bee and also to Eddie for doing the DVD for the presentation. As you can tell - the crowd went crazy over it :)

(Read on for Part 2's Lost In Translation) .....

With the Chinese delegation

 

Me & You. Just Us Two : Conversations with MOH

**this post may not be suitable for children below the age of 18yrs old. Read at your own risk :P

At the start of the month, a friend on FB changed his profile photo to one that was taken at our wedding in Bali and he had this to say : "It's August. It's the time of the year. Happy anniv guys! From the Villenas." Awww.... How sweet, Jojo. Thanks for the very early greetings :)

Indeed, yet another year had flown by and we are now in August, going on to September and October which means, it is 3 months straight of lots of celebratory dates for MOH and myself :) Starting of course.... with our wedding anniversary... kisseversary.... sexerversary..... and the list goes on and throw into that mix - my birthday too :) .... This year, however, I would be away from MOH during our 2nd year anniversary. Oh well, we have plenty of our dates to choose from...... 
_____



About our anniversary...

MOH : What do you want to do? How shall we celebrate?
Me     : I will be in China
MOH : Darn. Ok. We can celebrate earlier or later
Me     : Oh yeah... we have so many dates to choose from. Hahahahahaha!
MOH : You can choose only two.
Me     : What do you mean only two???!
MOH : Yes, so for the rest of the other dates, YOU plan and YOU celebrate for me. Hahaha back.
Me     : No !
MOH : Yes. Quickly. Choose your dates.
(the conversation ends with a lot of pinching and wrestling........)

I've learnt that as a Me & You, Just Us Two couple, (otherwise known as DINK and for those  unfamiliar with the term - DINK = Double Income No Kids. Yes, we are a marketing term), everyday is a celebration. Well, every other day can be a celebration *grin*. There's only the two of us and because we work in the same field, we don't exactly want to bore each other to death talking about work. So we find ways to entertain each other and entertain ourselves. That itself is a celebration :) Celebrating a night of instant noodles. Celebrating the success of our version of MasterChef competition. Celebrating a new way of tricking the other person or making the other person laugh incessantly. Laughter, the best medicine they say. And I so agree. The one most important ingredient in our relationship is the laughs. One thing that stood out at our wedding was the laughter. And 2 years down the road, we think that laughter helped us grow. Some may call it cheap thrills especially when I throw ice water at MOH while he showers (ok, this does end up being one-sided. Hahahaha!). But most of the time, we laugh together, laugh at one enother and the laughter is what helps us get through some of the toughest days around. Sometimes, on down days, I would reflect on a certain conversations (it may even be a repeated one) and I would find myself grinning like the bloody Cheshire Cat.
___

About household chores...

Me     : You have to wake up early tomorrow morning to sweep & mop
MOH : No!
Me     : Say again? (hand gesturing to start pinching....)
MOH : *pulls long face*
___

Me     : The floor feels dusty!
MOH : No, it still feels clean (takes off slippers and starts doing the shuffle on the floor)
Me     : I can see the dust !!
MOH : Look up. Don't look down!
(conversation ends with wrestling and slapping and pinching....)
___

Me     : How come you don't sweep everything into a corner then only you clear it into the dustpan?
MOH : Ssshhh! I'm sweeping or you are sweeping?
Me     : *silent mocking mimic of "I'm sweeping or you are sweeping?" but is stopped midway from a killer stare
___

MOH : Next time, for my shirts, I want it ironed like this, like this, and then after that, you button the  collar before you hang it up, ok? Don't iron the collar flat down.
Me     : Ah-zhi-ah-zho - you iron yourself la!
MOH : *pulls puppy dog face*

To be fair, MOH did recite in his wedding vows that he will do all the household chores and he will cook for me too. And yet, we've been sharing cleaning duties :) It's a chore, but annoying each other while doing it makes it a little bit more fun :) I'm laughing as I write this, remembering all the conversations :)
___

About taking care of each other...

MOH : *via post-it note* PLEASE NOTE!!! Please take care and take it easy! Rest now! Let it heal before it gets worse! Love you!!
Me     : Awww... so sweet. What's up with all the exclamation marks? Hahaha! *limps straight out the door for usual morning training*
___

MOH : *limps into the apartment* Lou Por !!!!! I sprained my ankle!! Oww, oww... owww...
Me     : *in fake concern voice* Awww... poor baby, poor, poor baby....... Does not mean you get to escape the household chores for today *sticks tongue out*
MOH : *pulls puppy dog face*
___

Me     : *feeling awfully in pain and feeling extremely ill from 7 days of food poisoning*
MOH : What can I do? Do you want me to run downstairs and get you a "happy cigarette"??
Me     : *too weak to even say WTF??! Where is that coming from??* *too painful to laugh*
___

MOH : What soup is this?
Me     : Pat Zhan
MOH : Isn't this a women's soup?
Me     : Ah Por said you can also drink it
MOH : Will I grow breasts?
Me     : Just drink the soup!!
___

Me     : *coughing fit*
MOH : Stop Coughing
Me     : *choking on my cough trying to respond* If I can really stop coughing because you asked me to, then you can become a Witch Doctor !!

I have to admit, MOH is pretty good at taking care of me :) Kris, in my Surprise Wedding Video in Bali, when asked if he thought I would make a good wife, he answered : "I think Richard will make a good husband" (and this was repeated twice in the editing). But I do try!! Look, MOH has grown round and prosperous and cholesterol level has dropped significantly thanks to my TLC daily menu :) Although, admittedly, I don't make it any easier for MOH to take care of me since I am supposedly "the most stubborn person he has ever known." But you know what? I agree with Kris :) To that end,... Thanks, Love... for the TLC all the time :) (but you could skip the nagging bit :P *mischevious grin*)
___

About sharing of the bed...

Me     : Stop warming up my side of the bed.
MOH : This is my side of the bed!
Me     : *kicks violently*
MOH : Wei! The line is here. This is my side!
Me     : *starts poking and pinching*
MOH : Stop it! You have so much space over on your side! I'm about to fall off!!
Me     : *fake snore*
___

Me     : Did you just fart??!!
MOH : *laughs*
Me     : Under the blanket??!! Eweeeee!!!!
MOH : Wooohoo!!
___

Me     : Stop stealing my bolster and Stinky
MOH : I hate Stinky
Me     : Stinky hates you too. And stop getting your smell on Stinky
MOH : *slaps Stinky*
(conversation ends with a wrestling match in bed)
___

MOH : *parks his leg on top of mine*
Me     : No! *kicks leg away*
MOH : This is my position!
Me     : I was here first!
MOH : See? Now with your leg here, you are so far away.... !
Me     : *fake concern voice* Awww.. poor baby.. poor, poor baby..... *fake snore*

Most of the time, getting into bed is a rather fun routine. Even better when there's 'bedminton' involved. Hahahaha. More often than not, it ends with a wrestling match in bed before it leads to the real game ;) While we enjoy annoying each other prior to going to bed, I also know that one of the most romantic thing that MOH does every night is to Hold My Hands (hence, one of our wedding songs) when we sleep. Such a simple gesture! Even in the middle of the night, if we don't end up cuddling, he'll search for my hands while half-asleep and hold it. It's something I really love :) And how can I ever forget that crazy Cambodian night, where there was no electricity, in the middle of summer's heat, MOH sat up in bed, fanning me with the blanket. Now, that is love. And I am lucky.
___

About playing tricks on one another...

Me     : Do you like your non-matching socks?
MOH : Idiot! I already knew it.
Me     : How did you know?!
MOH : Normally, you don't roll up my socks. When I saw the socks all rolled up, already suspicion  level naik
Me     : So cle-ver. Darn it!
___

Me     : *hiding at the balcony in the dark - but too slow to turn off TV*
MOH : Lou Por! I'm home! *searches in every room and peeks out at the balcony. Does not see me*
Me     : *stifling laugh*
MOH : *goes out to balcony again* Idiot!!!
___

MOH : You put chilli powder in my instant noodles!!
Me     : No. *innocent face*
MOH : It's spicy!!
Me     : It comes with the pack. How I know? *trying to keep a straight face*
MOH : You're bluffing. I know!
___

Me     : *preparing ice water and grinning mischeviously*
MOH : *showering, not knowong what hit him when the ice water splashed onto him*
Me     : *laughing deliriously* Gotcha!!!
MOH : Idiot! You better sleep with your eyes open!

Needless to say, there's only the two of us to entertain one another. Ok, usually, it is me trying to entertain myself at the expense of MOH. And I know he lets me because he loves seeing me laugh. Also because, that is the whole reason why in my wedding vows, I said "I promise to play with you always." I'm keeping my promise ;) It's the same as when he imitates MJ's dance moves or when he tries to dance like Britney Spears or Rain - he does that because it makes me laugh and laughing makes my day :) Every morning, without fail, I get a dance routine of sorts. Thanks, Love for all the laughs.
___

About putting up with my anal-retention borderline OCD...

Me     : Why is the soft drinks on the second shelf???
MOH : Why?? What's wrong it??
Me     : It's disturbing my chi.
___

MOH : Where is new tube of toothpaste?
Me     : Why do you not know where anything is in this house??
MOH : Because you don't allow me to keep anything.
Me     : *slaps forehead*
___

Me     : This is the wrong floor mat for the balcony!!!
MOH : What?! They are the same colours!!
Me     : NO. This one is brighter - it is meant for the toilet! The one for the balcony is faded!
MOH : What difference does it make???
Me     : It disturbs my chi
___

Me     : Why can't you put everything back to the same place after you use it?
MOH : *silent mocking mimic of what I just said* It's still on the table! What's your problem?
Me     : It needs to be exactly 5cm from the left edge and 10cm from the top edge otherwise it disturbs  my chi! 
MOH : You've got serious issues.
Me     : *sticks tongue out*

I know myself that I am not an easy person to live with or to share a space with. I like things to be in exact compartmentalized locations, shelves, drawers, etc. Ok, I don't admit to being OCD :P I don't exactly arrange my DVDS in alphabetical order, although I do sort them out in categories :P  I think I'm just anal. I like to know that soft drinks are in one section of the fridge, dairy beverages on another shelf, snacks and junk food yet another shelf and so on. I like knowing that I can memorize the arrangement on my dressing table without looking at it. So you see, it isn't easy to live with me. Especially when faded floor mats make a big differences in my life :P I honestly don't know why! And I am NOT OCD :P But anyway, MOH has made living together so easy. Unexplainable :) I love him for letting me be whatever way I want to be. For putting up with me and all my anal-retentiveness and eccentric behaviours and characteristics. I also love him for knowing exactly how to deal with me when I go "crazy". He doesn't fight fire with fire. He lets me go ballistic and ignores me. He knows I will come around later. It reminds me of a "Monica & Chandler" situation - "in sickness and in health...." ... well, consider this my sickness then :)
___

About the more serious stuff...

MOH : You cannot expect everyone to work at your speed. Ok, to how I see it, this is only a side business for all of you. XXX may have other businesses making bigger money. This small time money and you still chase for deadlines and all... to XXX, you are like a fly buzzing around the head.
Me     : Are you calling me a fly???
MOH : I'm just saying....
Me     : Yes, it is a side business. But I still put in a lot of effort and heart into it!
MOH : Like I said, not everyone thinks the same. Everyone has their own way of thinking.
___

Me     : I don't want to work anymore!!
MOH : That's ok too if you really don't want to work.
Me     : Really? You're not kidding?
MOH : Not kidding. I can support you. But that would mean you will be a housewife. You can do all  the household chores!
Me     : What??!
___

MOH : I want to quit my job!!
Me     : Ok. Calm down. What happened?
MOH : I can't stand the stupid clients anymore!! They now want a cheaper quote!
Me     : *thinking that it is pointless to fuel the situation by going ballistic about the re-quote* Ok. No  problem. I'll get you a cheaper quote then. Ok? Just stay calm.
___

Me     : I just want to let you know that there's two of us. We have an educated background, we  have two hands, two feet and some brains. We will survive.
MOH : Might be a tough life?
Me     : If you eat porridge, I eat porridge. If you eat rice, I eat rice la! *smile* Plus I don't eat much. Low maintenance :)
___

Me     : What if we both just ditch everything, sell everything and we go and become volunteers at places where we're needed?
MOH : Yes, that can be considered...
Me     : Who knows, we might even find doing this more fulfilling than chasing the rich man's dream!
MOH : *nods*
Me     : I mean, it's not like we'll have children to pass our inheritance down to :P

When I said that MOH is my pillar of strength in life during our wedding ceremony, I wasn't kidding. In many ways, I think his unbiased perspective means a lot to me. I don't necessarily want someone who gets on my side simply by default. I need someone to look at things in an unbiased manner and is willing to tell me I'm an idiot in that particular situation instead of sticking up for me blindly. Sure, in other types of situation, I'd like MOH to be my protector and someone who sticks up for me but when it comes down to work and business, I think it is smarter to have a more objective insight, considering that I am pretty emotional about things :) To that, I appreciate his sanity in the midst of my insanity. I know I am in safe hands too :)

To my beloved MOH, you are my world. I cannot say thank you enough for all the love you have shown me and I cannot say thank you enough to the powers up there for allowing us to cross paths and eventually fall in love after 13 years of friendship and then granting us this lifelong adventure of being a married couple. The best years are still to come!
___

To my beloved MOH too..

When I miss you or when I am down, all I need to do is read your wedding vows tattooed onto me and I am reminded of the love I am so lucky to have in my life :

"I believe you have renewed my life. Our miracle lies in the path we have chosen together.
The true magic of love is not to avoid changes but to steer them successfully.
I commit to the miracle of making each day work and I promise to live a life that will honour the vows I made.
I promise to grow old with you, to hold your hands wherever we go, to face life's challenges together and keep our relationship alive and electrifying.
May our lives be ever intertwined, our love keeping us together... completely and forever."

I hope you do the same. :)

p/s : I shall be missing you while in China as I always do when we are apart. And not to worry, I WILL take care :)

Living Vicariously : Criminal Minds / CSI

I should've been led down the correct path, following my love for crime-solving adventure and forensic-thriller reading materials since I graduated from my Enid Blytons. In fact, it took me a long while to expand my reading materials to cover other genres because I really do enjoy the suspense, the thrill and the crime-solving journey. Each blood-splatter pattern comes alive in my head.

As a kid, when asked what was my cita-cita, I would say "Police CID". A bit further down the road, "FBI" replaced "CID". And then, I don't know what happened, I got into advertising and events. Even in uni, I took an additional course in Criminal Psychology. I remembered the first day of lecture, I walked into the hall and was extremely intimidated by the fact that out of the hundreds of students, I was the only Asian. Talk about standing out. Nevertheless, I made it to each and every one of my lecture and tutorials and I devoured the textbooks within the first week, getting intimate with serial killers and case studies and all that mystery. I aced my course, and I had loved every minute of it.

But then, I still steered down the career path of being in the 'glam' ad world. Firstly, I was on scholarship to finish my BA in Communications and secondly, to switch totally to Criminal Justice would've required a whole different set of foundation. Time I had. Money, nada. So, the closest I got to doing anything BAU-like while in the midst of my ad career was studying Consumer Behaviour! :P

To say that I am a fan of the both Criminal Minds and CSI is understating it a little. I'm a huge, huge, huge fan. I'd like to think that had these series been on air back in the 80s and 90s, I would right now be staring into the eyes of a serial killer instead of a bridezilla. The only difference would be instead of asking "What gives you the thrill of the kill?", I would be asking "Why are you crying over menu selection??!" Hah!

Reality bites, though. I know my limitations and it all stops at analyzing people's character and behaviour. Ok, I do know that what's on TV is as exciting as it gets because I think in real life, crime-techs don't kick open doors and wield guns at a potentially armed-and-dangerous suspect. I also think in real-life, crime techs with long hair tie their hair back neatly too. And on TV, all the crime techs seem to be geniuses who remember their periodic table by heart. I'm not an idiot, but I enjoy my own fantasies.

First of all, I dislike science to begin with. I remembered when I was in Form 1 - the first year I was introduced to Science as a subject by itself, my Dad told my Mom this after a screaming session in trying to make me understand the "logic" behind a science concept (and I believed I was close to giving him a stroke when I kept arguing with some illogical argument based on nothing scientific) : "She just doesn't have it in her to do Science." My Dad was a Science & Math teacher. I believed him. From henceforth, he stopped torturing me with Science and I was left to my own devices. I still aced all my Science & Math subjects, mind you. I had extremely good memory. I memorized everything - including the bloody periodic table and mathematic formulas, etc. (My Dad still doesn't understand how I could've scored A1s for all my Science subjects).

Secondly, I'm afraid of the dark!! Can you imagine if I was in pursuit of a suspect who decides to hide in a house, which conveniently does not have power at said time and all I have to rely on was my standard-issue LED 7438 Lenser Torch?? I'd be shooting at the direction of every noise I hear, imagined or otherwise! And I doubt the outcome of that would be good. IA would be all over me!

An extension of being afraid of the dark, I am also afraid of things non-human. If I was assigned to a 419 at some creepy location - ESPECIALLY if it was after sunset hours, I might have to call in sick. And what about visits to the morgue? I wouldn't be able to share a space with a DB and I dunno, God forbid if I was left alone in the morgue. If the DB so much as twitches - which CAN happen because of so many various natural reasons (yea right, keep telling yourself that), I would die of a heart-attack. Then again, I think anybody would.

I am also squirmish about blood and body parts not being attached to a body. Whilst I don't faint at the sight of blood or lots of it, I don't think seeing a head without a body or a body without a head would sit well with me. I would imagine, just checking on a DB with a head that is totally bashed in and COD is blunt-forced trauma would be enough to make my dinner come out in the reverse. Ok, don't even have to go so far. A few months back, I had a nasty fall and from there, an infected wound the size of a tiny crater on my knee. I had to clean the wound myself and dress it with some antibiotic cream. Now, this is my own blood, my own yucky-goo stuff and still, when my finger went into that crater, my entire body became jelly-like. I'm pretty sure Detective Mac Taylor or SSA Agent Hotchner wouldn't be impressed with my jello-ed body.

Though, I would think that all the above is about 'getting-used-to' and going through sufficient training (surely they wouldn't allow some rookie who would shoot at 'ghosts' to run loose and protect civil society??!) and of course same goes for rattling off some scientific formulas to recover smudged prints from greasy surfaces. Therefore, it is actually not too late for me to do a career make-over. Right? I'll probably have to start from the bottom - like, I dunno, crime scene clean-up? OMG. More yucky-goo that does not belong to me. And maybe even an ear or a finger which the crime techs failed to see? But then again, I think there is hope for me in the BAU - as long as they keep me out of dark, creepy places and the morgue, I should be ok. It's never too late to dream and chase it ;)

But for now, I'd be happy living vicariously through drooling at Hotch's and Mac's perpetual frowns that make them look so super sexy and macho while they lead their respective teams into solving serial crimes and such. I've watched all seasons, all episodes repeatedly that I know the crimes by heart. Just this morning, MOH remarked that "We have watched this episode 6 times already!" - referring to CSY : NY 6 playing on AXN this morning while we had breakfast. I still hid the TV remote from him :P

It's my 45 minute of de-stressing fantasy for the day. Repeated or not, it reminds me that I still have dreams to chase after :)
____

And just for fun - I did this CM personality test online and here's the result of it! Revelatory? Perhaps. Haha.

A tad too close to the truth for me too!!!